Spokane Valley considers banning kratom

The Spokane Valley City Council is considering placing a citywide ban on kratom.

The unregulated drug is frequently sold at gas stations and smoke shops in plant and extract form. It has two psychoactive ingredients and affects opioid receptors in the brain, creating a similar euphoric effect. At higher doses, kratom can have a sedative effect for up to a few hours. It can be used in tea, tablets, capsules or extracts. Long-term effects of the drug can include anorexia, insomnia, hallucinations and depression, according to Spokane Valley police Chief Dave Ellis.

Kratom is often used to ease withdrawal symptoms, but people can get addicted to it, Ellis said. It is not currently regulated at the federal or state level.

The ban the Spokane Valley City Council is considering would prohibit selling or distributing kratom in the city. If the council decides to pass the ban, any sale or distribution of kratom would result in a $250 fine, and a $1,000 fine for every subsequent violation, according to Caitlin Prenty, deputy city attorney. It is possible that the ordinance, if passed, would take away business licenses from retailers found guilty of selling kratom.

On Tuesday night, the council voted 6-1 to move forward with the potential ban. Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger was the only member against an all-out ban.

During the council meeting, Yaeger said that she wants people to be able to use natural substances for pain relief and would be more in favor of the council waiting 90 days to vote on the ban.

“Can we regulate it in the same similar manner that we do marijuana?” Yaeger said. “I just, I don’t feel like we’re ready to vote on moving this, as it is, forward tonight without some more information, because I want people to have access to pain management, and if we look at the list of side effects, wine and marijuana have a lot of the same side effects, so for me, an all-out ban doesn’t sit quite well with me.”

Councilwoman Pam Haley pushed back on that idea.

“I am sympathetic to people who have found kratom being helpful, and I understand that it comes from a natural plant, but actually, cocaine and heroin also come from a natural plant, as do many of the drugs that we abuse these days,” Haley said. “Everyone, almost across the board, has said that the synthetic, concentrated version is dangerous.”

This is the second time the council has voted for the potential ban on kratom. The council will likely take a final vote on the ban this spring.

Their pitch follows a similar one from the Spokane City Council, which voted last month to defer banning kratom while awaiting those state proposals.

Kratom is legal in Idaho, but Oregon has adopted a consumer protection act regulating the drug, Prenty said. There are two bills in Washington being considered in the state Senate, but it is unlikely that either will pass during this session.

“There are still going to be a multitude of places that people who wanted this product could go to get it, but at least here within the city, we’d be making a pretty strong statement,” councilman Al Merkel said.

Councilman Mike Kelly also voiced that he is for the ban on kratom until Washington state passes some sort of regulation on the drug.

Several kratom users spoke against the ban during the city council meeting, most of them testifying via Zoom from outside of Washington.

“Council has stated their position that we were in favor of a ban, because that seemed like the easiest approach,” Kelly said. “However, we have received a number of emails from people who are defending or requesting us to consider keeping the availability of some more natural forms … available, rather than, say, the synthetic version.”

Ellis said regulating kratom rather than banning it would make enforcement more tricky.

“If council’s desire is to ban this, that’s probably going to be the cleanest way to do it,” Ellis said.

Kratom, Ellis said, is often mixed with other drugs and has been involved in several deaths in Spokane County.